Wilted Petals
by Dream Out Loud 18
Summary: All couples have their bumps in the roads, even the "perfect" ones. Especially Katniss and Peeta. One-shot, tribute to the Hunger Games since the movie came out.


**OMGOMGOMG THE HUNGER GAMES MOVIE CAME OUT TODAY! :D**

**Since it came out today, I wrote this in honor of the series and surely-amazing movie. This is placed after Mockingjay, pre-Epilogue, about how I believe Peeta and Katniss got together - Katniss and Peeta found comfort in each other, they began to crush, then date, then fall in love. This is around the 'date' stage, with Peeta's insecurities and Katniss's lingering feelings for Gale. A two-shot, one chapter for each person. First up is PEETA!  
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**Disclaimer: Despite how much I LOVE Peeta Mellark and want him to be MINE, I don't own the Hunger Games OR Maroon 5 OR their song 'She Will Be Loved'. :(**

**Wilted Petals**

**Peeta: She Will Be Loved**

Whenever Peeta Mellark had one of his attacks, or just needed to clear his mind, he went to the bakery and baked. But this time, it didn't work. His mind kept wandering to his current relationship with...with Katniss.

Peeta sighed, stopping his hands. It was no use. His mind kept wandering to his and Katniss's relationship. It kind of shocked him that Katniss was finally opening up and not repulsive with him - after all, when he was driven insane, hadn't he tried to kill her? Hadn't he done so many things to her, hurt her?

And why did Katniss blame herself? How could've she had known he would be captured in the first place?

Peeta bit his lip, sitting down on a stoll. _Katniss_. He knew he loved her, now. But did she love him? Or was he a replacement for her? Someone to make her forget about everything? Was that all he was to her?

He gripped the stoll tightly as he felt an attack coming. He took deep breaths, eyes tightly closed, thinking about his real memories. The attack slowly faded away, and Peeta let out a breath. But his grip on the stoll didn't get released.

Was he just a replacement of Gale for Katniss? Her best friend, Gale, who she had known since she was twelve, and had hunted with, shared secrets with laughed with, smiled with. Gale, who had unintentionally planned the killing of her sister. Gale, who lived in District 2 now and had an amazing job, and not once calling Katniss or vice versa.

Peeta gritted his teeth, blond hair falling into his blue eyes. No, he would not think of Gale as the bad guy. Haymitch had told him what Gale had said to Katniss during their faked-engagement: _"I wish he [Peeta] was easier to hate."_ And in the shop, he had gotten along fairly well with Gale. He wasn't a bad guy, he just, like Katniss, had gone through a lot and needed a new beginning.

But...what if he was just that? What if, for Katniss, he was just a replacement of Gale, someone to fill in the emptiness, without her best friend, or sister, or mother? Someone to comfort her because no one else is ready for that?

Peeta bit his knuckles so hard he tasted blood in his mouth. He didn't care, really. All he could think of is why was love so complicated, and why, of all people, he fell for Katniss Everdeen. Her voice, her attitude, her flaws?

He knew the answer, deep down - he loved her because she might act tough on the outside, but in the inside, she was a terrified little girl wanting to be loved. And no matter how much she might've unintentionally hurt him, he would love her. He would die for her, wait for her, and _love her_.

He finally opened his eyes, staring at the picture he had pinned on a board Haymitch had taken after Katniss had a nightmare during a nap, and Peeta was smiling sadly at her, and she was giving back a broken smile. He remembered thinking, _Katniss _will _be loved by at least _someone.

_I don't mind spending everyday out in the corner in the pouring rain, look for the girl with the broken smile, asking if she wants to stay awhile, and she will be loved..._

Peeta couldn't honestly say he blamed her. After all, she was only eighteen and had gone through and seen so much stuff...of course her walls would break. Of course she would be broken. But that was where Gale came in. To comfort her, even if she was in a fake-relationship with Peeta.

But now that role landed on Peeta, now that Gale was gone.

_Beauty queen of only eighteen, she had some trouble with herself...he was always there to help her, she always belonged to someone else..._

Peeta stood up and took out the cheese buns that came from the oven as soon as it dinged. They were Katniss's favorite, and he wanted to do something special for her. While he put half of the cheese buns in a basket (he _had_ to have _some_ available for District 12) he continued to think.

He knew that life wasn't all sunshine and daisies. Especially the District 12 of before, with Snow as president. His own life wasn't amazing. But he could only imagine how it was for Katniss. But a new beginning was occurring, _right now_, and Katniss could always come in for him. And she did, nearly everyday. So maybe he's not _that_ much of a replacement.

_It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along, yeah...my heart is full and my door's always open you can come in anytime you want..._

Peeta finally told his workers that they are going to close, since he was leaving early. He grabbed the basket and left, for Katniss's house in Victor's Village. He paused in front of the house, knocking. No answer. He looked up at the window that he knew Katniss's bedroom was. The shutters were closed. Reasonable. But the living room shutters were also closed. That was when Peeta got suspicious. Katniss _never_ had the shutters in the living room closed.

He suddenly sighed, realizing what had happened. Slowly, he went to her house's garage. He opened the garage doors, revealing a well-kept care that all victors obtained once winning, but no one had never used it. He tapped the backseat door, and a curled up Katniss Everdeen, who had been crying softly, looked up. And even like that, she looked beautiful.

_Tap on my window, knock on my door, I want to make you feel beautiful...I know where you hide, alone in your car..._

Shakily, Katniss opened the door. Peeta climbed in. "Hey," he said softly, wrapping an arm around her. "What happened?"

"Make the nightmares stop, Peeta." Her voice shook, and she buried her face in his chest. "Make them stop," she repeated, whimpering.

"I wish it were that easy," he whispered, rubbing her back.

She whimpered in reply. Peeta had been the only one - except perhaps Gale - who had ever seen Katniss letting down her barriers. He rocked them back as forth in silence, and each time she remembered her nightmare and let out a scream, he would cut her off with a kiss. It went like this until he whispered, "Let's get you inside. I made cheese buns."

Katniss didn't reply, but she allowed him to take her inside, basket in hand. Peeta helped her get into bed, and after Katniss's sixth cheese bun (and there were a dozen in that basket) Peeta stood to leave. But as fast as lightning, Katniss's hand grabbed his collar and pulled him down next to her. "Don't leave me," she whimpered.

"Never," he swore, stroking her hair. She buried her face in his shoulder. But his mind was far away. Am I replacement? Do I actually matter to her? Am I more than a replacement to her? Does she love me like I love her?

And he knew, slowly, how to figure that out, knowing that Katniss could never lie to him ever since the war.

"You love me," Peeta whispered in her ear, soft. "Real or not real?"

And with no hesitation whatsoever, she replied, "Real."

Peeta smiled widely and in reply gave her a kiss.

(_And he was always going to be there, for her. Because that is what love is. And if he knew one thing for sure, is that she will be loved, no matter what._)

_And she will be loved..._

**Awwww. I absolutely loved writing this. I've always loved Peeta and think that no matter what Katniss thought, he had a rough life.**

**The reason this story is called "Wilted Petals" because of that to the Capitol, Katniss and Peeta's relationship was a 'rose', as President Snow would say. But all roses have wilted petals sooner or later, the 'thorns'. BTW, the title also belongs to my amazing sister, HyperAndProudOfIt. :)**

**So, review? And HAPPY HUNGER GAMES! MAY THE ODDS EVER BE AT YOUR FAVOR!**

**The Understanding OvO,**

**Dream Out Loud 18**


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